Belly Fat Is The Most Dangerous Fat, Study Finds

Trending News: Being 'Skinny Fat' Can Kill You

Why Is This Important?

Because BMI is a terrible indicator of, well, just about anything.

Long Story Short

A group of researchers have found that when it comes to how healthy you are, one measure matters more than others: Your waist. People with normal BMIs but larger waist measurements were at greater risk of death than both people with normal BMIs (and low body fat) and even people with BMIs in the “obese” range.

Long Story

Every time a news story comes out linking health with obesity, the internet (rightly) works itself into a frenzy because more often than not, Body Mass Index (BMI) is the measure used to determine obesity. The metric is basically your weight divided by your height (squared), and it’s all but useless as a measure of body fat or overall health. Are you a bro who likes to get swole in the gym? You will have roughly the BMI of a walrus. Subsist on a diet of cheetos and absinthe, but manage to keep a slim silhouette? Your BMI is a-ok. Its limitations are both obvious and myriad, but a new study has found a better way to determine your overall health: Your belly fat.

The study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, used survey results for over 15,000 adults aged 18 to 90. The data included an average of 14 years of follow up info, so the researchers were able to compare the risk of heart-related and overall mortality to the distribution of body fat. For that, they looked at both BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), or how big your belly is compared to your hips.

What they found was that by far the most at-risk group of people were those with “normal weight central obesity” — folks with high WHR, but with BMIs that clocked in under the obesity limit. They were more likely to die than people both normal WHRs and healthy BMIs, and (surprisingly) twice as likely to die as people with normal WHRs but BMIs in the obese range.

The researchers don’t make an official claim as to why this is, but they do speculate that visceral fat likely plays a significant role. Visceral fat describes fatty deposits that live not under the skin, but inside the body cavity among your organs. It’s a big part of what we describe as a “beer belly” on (usually older) men — a belly that protrudes significantly, though the skin is surprisingly taut. It looks that way because at least some of their girth is literally coming from the inside out, and it’s no coincidence that visceral fat has long been linked to health problems.

Beyond that, it’s kind of obvious to see why the results are what they are. Someone who’s at a healthy weight for their size and has a flat belly is pretty self-evidently healthy when it comes to body fat. A person with an “obese” BMI but a healthy WHR is, obviously, just heavy for their height, and there’s a good chance that healthy, lean muscle mass is the culprit.

Again, when studies like this percolate throughout the internet, they’re always accompanied by a chorus of people saying “bullshit, you can be considered obese and still be healthy!” And in terms of obesity as determined by BMI, this study is proof that it’s true. Of course, if you have both a high BMI and a giant round belly, you’re probably aware that you could benefit from a few concerted lifestyle changes. But if you’re relying on the scale or dubious online calculators to determine your sense of fitness and self-worth, wrapping a tape measure around your waist is a much simpler (and more accurate) measurement.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

How do people gain visceral fat but not subcutaneous fat?

Disrupt Your Feed

Good, I’m sick of websites telling me I’m fat because I like to work out.

Drop This Fact

The good news is that while visceral fat may be the most dangerous, it’s also usually the first to go when starting a regimen of diet and exercise.